By Amalraj A csc
Readings: 2 Cor 9:6-10; Jn 12:24-26
An eagle can live up to 70 years, but it involves a painful rebirth at the age of 40. The eagle has to make a daring decision to die to its old self. It is the time that the eagle has to break its beak hitting hard against a rock for the new beak to grow. It must pluck out the talons as the new ones develop and pluck the feathers from its body for new feathers to grow. Unless the eagle decides to go through this painful process, it cannot live up to 70 years.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about a grain of wheat that needs to die to bring forth a new plant. However good the soil or the atmosphere may be, unless the grain dies and takes another birth, it cannot become a plant. The purpose of the seed gets fulfilled only when the seed grows and produces a good harvest.
All those people whom we look up to as good, moral, heroic, and holy are people who were born as ordinary human beings. These are the people who gave up living life for themselves and found meaning in living for the values of Christ. Following Jesus means to live like him going through all the pain and suffering that he went through in his life to save humanity. The responsibility of saving the entire humanity is not given to us.
However, we have a responsibility to be faithful towards our duty so that we can save a lot of people. Many times in my life, I gave up so many works just because they were complicated or sometimes because I was lazy. Maybe it is time for me to learn the lessons of the eagle and the grain of wheat to sacrifice my life just as Jesus and his followers did.